How I Met Your Father
by a beautiful penname
Summary: Ahh, Valentine's Day. Couples are making out here and there, bitter single people are glaring at them, love and sexual tension is in the air. Every Valentine's Day the school arranges a big flower delivery program. White roses for teachers, yellow roses for friends, and red roses for lovers. The roses are delivered right to your locker! Nothing could possibly go wrong! Lilo / Ziall


**this was supposed to be a story i submit to ziallficweekly but it turned into a lilo fic with really sloppily done ziall but i had worked so hard on it so now its on here**

**its a bit late bc its a vday fic but w/e**

* * *

"Okay kids, it's finally time!" Liam said happily, clapping his hands together.

Two pairs of judging eyes just stared back at him, before his son, Seth, broke the silence.

"Time for what?" He asked with an exasperated sigh that quite offended Liam.

But he perked up again as he remembered what in fact it was time for, "It's time for me to tell you how I met your dad!"

Louis smiled at his husband from across the table, not having the heard to tell him that their kids don't give a rat's ass about how they met.

As if on cue, both of the kids groaned loudly.

"No groaning!" Liam said, pointing towards the living room, "Go sit on the couch!" The kids begrudgingly obliged, leaving Liam and Louis in the kitchen alone.

"Why aren't they happy about this?" Liam asked, desperately.

Louis smiled fondly, "They just can't appreciate true love." Liam smiled back and pressed a quick kiss to Louis' lips before going out to the living room.

"Okay guys," Liam smiled as he remembered everything, "The date was 22 years ago: Valentine's Day, 2009. Louis was 18, a senior in high school, and I was 16, a sophomore…" He allowed himself to get lost in the memory.

* * *

Liam walked across the street to knock on his neighbor's door. They walked to school together every morning, and he was almost always late.

"I'm comin' I'm comin'!" Shouted a voice from the inside. Liam sighed and adjusted his red plaid shirt, picked out especially for this day.

Judge him all you like, Liam loved Valentine's Day. He loved romance and he loved that there was a day where people were encouraged to put it all out there and tell someone you were in love with them. He was getting lost in all his warm fuzzy feelings when the door finally opened to show a pale skinned, blond, Irishman.

"Well come on then." Niall said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking off, expecting Liam to follow.

"Happy Valentine's Day Niall!" Liam said to Niall's back as he attempted to catch up with him.

Niall scoffed, "How can you love a holiday so much, when you've been single on every one you've celebrated?" He finally stopped and let Liam fall into a stride next to him.

"It's not about your love specifically, it's about celebrating love in general!" the older boy said defensively.

The blond grimaced, "Yeah, well, it's still gross to watch everyone swap spit in the halls all day." He bitterly kicked a rock, "And watch everyone get a rose in their locker except for you."

"I always send you a rose!"

"It's not the same if it's a yellow one…"

Liam could tell that the topic was upsetting Niall more than normal, so he switched the subject to their homework for math.

When they finally arrived at the school, another boy was waiting for them, as usual. Liam grinned as tanned skin and perfectly styled hair ran up to him and Niall and hugged them both tightly.

"Happy Valentine's Day guys!" Zayn said as he pulled back, eyes sparkling.

Niall looked even more upset than before. Liam was confused, usually Zayn and Niall hated this day together while Liam skipped around throwing hearts at people.

"You sure changed your tune." The brown-haired boy said, crossing his plaid covered arms.

Zayn made an airy noise and dismissed Liam's comment with a wave of his hand. The three of them entered the school. Liam and Zayn departed with the sour blond and walked to their lockers about halfway down the hall. Last month Adriana Padilla transferred school and since then, Zayn has been sort of illegally using her locker next to Liam's.

"So, did you send a rose to anybody?" Liam asked excitedly, having suppressed all his feelings during the walk to school with Niall.

Zayn smiled, "Only you and Niall. I also sent one to Mr. Pepito-" He stopped talking randomly and his eyes grew wide. "Fuck!"

"What?"

"I need to go to home room, I have to do my homework for math! Fuck!"

Hurriedly, Zayn gathered his backpack from the floor and slung it over his shoulder. He ran off towards the direction of his home room, leaving Liam alone to see what kind of roses were sneaked into his locker.

The flower delivery business was a serious thing. It took a lot of trust and work to get it off the ground. Every February 13th, the flower delivery crew stayed after school for three hours collecting every flower for every locker. They then had to get the combinations and take an oath not to fuck with anybody's lockers while they were delivering flowers. Once someone on the crew took a candy bar from a girl's locker, and she got him expelled.

The school generally made sure to take important things out of their lockers that day, just in case.

Hesitantly, Liam put in his combination. He really didn't expect anything other than two yellow roses from Zayn and Niall, maybe another one from someone else. All around him he saw girls shrieking as they opened their lockers. Some drowning in red roses, some sobbing over yellow ones. Guys didn't typically even get any roses. Sometimes they sent them to each other as a joke, but that was it.

Liam pulled open his locker and gasped quietly at what he saw.

In there was one yellow rose and one _red_ one.

Quickly he yanked them out and moved to read the labels.

_Thanks for being a great friend! - Zayn_

_It's really hard for me to say this, but I think I like you. If you don't like me back, we can just pretend this didn't happen. But if you do like me back, meet me under the bleachers after school. – Niall_

"I…" Liam said to himself, "What?"

He reread over the note again a few times to make sure he was right.

He was.

Niall…liked…Liam?

What?

"I'm such an idiot," Liam jumped as he heard Zayn's voice come from behind him, he quickly shoved the red rose into his locker and grabbed a book to hide it. "I didn't even have math homework." Zayn said, laughing as he came up next to Liam and began to open his own locker. Liam laughed awkwardly, trying to play it cool.

"So, any red roses LiLi?" Zayn asked, a teasing lilt to his voice.

"What? No! Who would give me a red rose?!" Liam said, talking perhaps louder than normal. Zayn eyed him weird but shook it off as he finally got his locker open.

Zayn pulled out two yellow roses and sighed dramatically.

"What's wrong?" Liam asked, glad to have the attention switched from him.

Zayn messed with one of the yellow pedals, "Nothing, I just…" He took a big breath, "Can I tell you a secret?"

Liam nodded.

"I was kind of hoping that Niall would give me a red rose…" Zayn trailed off again and messed with the note attached to the rose and Liam could see said _You're my best mate! - Niall_.

Zayn…liked…Niall?

And Niall liked Liam?

Liam was ruining a potential relationship by being so irresistible!

Then Liam remembered that Zayn was sadly messing with his rose in front of him, and he reached out to pat Zayn's shoulder.

"Hey, Niall doesn't know what he's missing." He said.

Zayn smiled but his eyes still looked sad, "Yeah… I'm gonna head to first period, the bell should ring soon…"

Liam watched Zayn go, feeling bad for his friend. Then he remembered the now crushed red rose in the back of his locker. Luckily Liam and Niall had a free period together first period. He was going to sort this out! He slammed his locker closed and turned to walk to where Niall and he spent their free periods and ran right into someone's chest.

"Whoa! Sorry!" Liam shouted as the other person shouted, "Watch where you're going!"

"I'm really sorry!" Liam continued, moving to pick up the books he'd made the boy drop.

The boy sighed and took his books back, "It's fine." He rubbed his forehead in frustration, "I'm sorry for lashing out, I'm Louis. I'm new here and it's really hectic today."

"Yeah that's Valentine's Day for you." Liam said, "Can I help you with anything? Do you know where your classes are?"

Louis looked hesitant as he said, "Well, this is supposed to be my locker." He pointed at the locker that Zayn currently inhabited. "You could show me how to open it?"

"You don't know how t-" Liam cut his sentence short as the boy sent him a flirty grin. "I…sure I could help you with that."

Then Liam remembered that his friend was squatting in this cute guy's locker. "Um do you really need to get into your locker right now?" Liam asked.

Louis' face fell, he started rambling anxiously, "Oh…you're not even gay are you? I'm just being really creepy and hitting on a straight guy?"

"No!" Liam all but shouted, a few people turning to see what the commotion was as Louis looked like he was suppressing a laugh. "I'm gay yes very gay and very interested. I just…" He figured the truth was the best way to go, "My friend kind of moved into this locker illegally when the last person who used it transferred."

Louis laughed, "Only that? Here you had me panicking."

They exchanged grins…and then Liam remembered he had actual issues to go sort out.

"Fuck!" He murmured, looking up at the ceiling.

"That's a little forward don't you think?"

Liam laughed a little and shook his head, "I'm really sorry, but I've got all this stuff to sort out." Louis' face fell again, "I swear I'm not lying! Here, take my phone number and I'll tell you the whole story later and you'll love it!"

Louis smiled, "You're sweet," He took his phone out of his back pocket and gave it to Liam, who put his information into it. He then pressed his lips to Louis' cheek and ran off to meet Niall, just making it to the room as the bell rang.

Liam sat down to catch his breath. When he turned to begin talking to Niall, his phone vibrated in his pocket. He held up a finger to tell Niall to wait and took it out.

**Unknown Number**

**Did you seriously kiss my cheek, or did I imagine that?**

Liam groaned and hit his forehead with the heel of his hand. Niall sent him a curious glance. Muttering "Stupid, stupid, stupid…" to himself, he saved the number to his contacts and sent back

**Was that too much? It was totally accidental, I didn't even fully process that I had done it until now?**

He anxiously stared at his phone until he got a response.

**It's ok, it was cute. I certainly feel wooed already and we haven't even had a date yet.**

Liam groaned to himself again. Of course he finds this amazing, adorable guy and then he has all this Zayn and Niall stuff to sort out. Then he remembered, Niall was next to him, and also he really needed to stop getting so distracted.

"Who was that?" Niall asked as Liam returned his phone to his pocket and turned to Niall.

Liam shook his head, "It doesn't matter."

Then Niall got nervous, "So…did you and Zayn go to your lockers yet?"

"I…" Liam trailed off, how should he go about this? "I haven't. Zayn might have?"

Sometimes the truth wasn't always the best way to go.

* * *

"Papa!"

Liam shook his head as his son's voice pulled him out of his memory. He furrowed his eyebrows at him, "What?"

"You've already told us how you met Dad," He groaned, "Why do you need to go on?"

Liam frowned, "I didn't finish the whole story!"

"Just let your father finish his story and we can have pizza for dinner tomorrow." Louis interjected, coming in from the kitchen and sitting on the arm of the chair where Liam sat.

The kids cheered and sat up to pretend to pay attention.

"Where was I?" Liam asked nobody in particular.

"You told Niall that you haven't been to your locker yet." Louis supplied.

"Ah, yes. So sometimes the truth wasn't always the best way to go…

* * *

Niall looked saddened by this news. They spent the rest of the free period in silence as Niall moped and Liam tried to plan.

Liam had the next class with Zayn, maybe they could sort something out. The bell rang and Liam ran out of the room, ignoring the teacher shouting after him. He was the first person into his next class and Zayn walked in soon after. Zayn still looked pretty upset but not as much.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

Zayn shrugged, "I've accepted my fate in the friendzone."

Liam frowned, "Why don't you just tell Niall you like him?"

"You can't just tell a guy you like him, it makes you look like an idiot."

"Then how could you expect Niall to tell you he likes you?"

Zayn pouted, "Can't you just let me make excuses right now?"

Liam closed his eyes really tight, "Zayn I need to tell you something,"

The black haired boy raised his eyebrow in question.

"Niall…sent me a red rose." He closed his eyes again, as if expecting Zayn to punch him.

Liam peeked open one eye and saw Zayn looking sad and confused and contemplative.

"But!" Liam said, "I don't like Niall! I like his new guy who I kind of asked out?" Zayn just looked more confused, "You should tell Niall you like him! And, and then you guys can get together and he can get over me and I can date the new guy and everything will work out perfectly!"

"I don't think it works like that, Li."

Their conversation was cut short by the teacher beginning class. Zayn ran out afterwards before Liam could do anything. Liam didn't even have any other classes with either of them for another two periods. He groaned and rested his head against a nearby locker.

"I take it you haven't sorted out your "stuff"?" Came a familiar voice, obvious air quotes around "stuff".

Liam pouted, "I really do have stuff to sort."

"Turn those puppy dog eyes off, they're creeping me out."

"I have a free period right now, how about I tell you about my stuff?"

Louis smiled and Liam led him to a random classroom. They sat in a pair of desks and Liam began rambling.

"So I've known Niall and Zayn forever, right? Now suddenly Niall likes me and Zayn likes Niall and I just like you and I don't know what to do I just want them to get together or at least stay friends because I don't want our whole thing to be messed up! Why did they have to go and ruin it by liking people? I don't even want to be involved in all this I just want everything to go back to normal and then I want to go on a date with you!"

Liam paused to take a few breaths and Louis just stared at him. Partially shocked by how much Liam managed to say in such a short amount of time and partially flustered by Liam saying he wants to date him. Not thinking, Louis reached out and grabbed Liam's face, pressing their lips together.

* * *

"Ew!"

"Gross Papa!"

"Yeah Liam," Louis said, leaning down to kiss his husband, "That's super gross."

"Come on!" Their daughter, Amy, shouted.

"No one wants to see that!" Seth agreed.

Liam smiled, turning away from Louis, "Alright, let's get back to the story…"

* * *

When Louis pulled away both the boys froze in shock. Louis couldn't believe he'd done that.

Liam reached a shaking hand up and touched his lips, grinning slightly.

"I'm sorry!"

"No!" Liam said, "No it's fine! That was just my first kiss!"

"That was your first kiss?!"

"It's totally fine! I'm glad it was you!"

Louis put his head in his hands, "I can't, I'm sorry!" He got up, and ran out. Barging through the throng of students on their way to third period.

"Louis," Liam protested weakly, but the boy was long gone.

Now Liam had gone and fucked up two potential relationships, by barely doing anything!

* * *

"Dad, what are you even doing?" Amy asked Louis.

He grimaced, "This is my least favorite part of the story."

Liam put a comforting hand on Louis' knee, "It turns out okay though."

"Yeah…" Louis agrees, smiling softly at the younger boy.

"Earth to Dads?" Seth said after a while, snapping his fingers.

"Right!" Liam said, "So, then I had a class with Niall…"

* * *

"Liam!" Niall said as he saw his friend, "Did you and Zayn check out your lockers yet?"

"Why are you so curious about it?" Liam asked nervously.

Niall twiddled with his fingers, "I dunno…it's just…"

"We went to our lockers…" Liam said, suddenly remembering Niall's note: _If you don't like me back, we can just pretend this didn't happen. _He just hoped Niall stuck to his word.

"Did he see it? What did he say?" Niall asked, perking up.

"I, what?"

"Zayn," Niall expanded, "About the rose?"

"…about your friendship rose?"

"What?! No!" Niall exclaimed, throwing his hands on top of his head in distress.

"You sent me a red rose and Zayn a yellow one!" Liam said.

"No!" Niall said, shaking his head furiously, "No, no, no, no!"

"Oh, thank God!"

Niall laughed, "You thought I liked you!"

"I was so worried!"

They laughed for a few moments, then Liam remembered, "Oh!" He exclaimed, "I told Zayn you gave me a red rose!"

"Shit!" Niall groaned.

Liam grinned, "But Zayn told me he hoped you'd give him a red rose."

"Really?!"

Liam nodded, "So I suggest a big declaration of your feelings. He's been having a pretty bad day."

"I'll get right on that." Niall said, his voice dropping to a whisper as the teacher walked in.

They left the classroom, Niall headed to skip lunch and plan his big surprise for Zayn, and Liam looking for Louis. To no avail. The bell rang and the halls cleared and Liam was going to get into so much trouble for what he was planning to do.

He headed to the nurse's office, knowing now was her lunch break and she wouldn't be in. Sure enough there was a note on her door: _**At lunch, in case of emergency please report to main office.**_

Liam quietly opened the door and slipped in, locking it behind him. A glance around told him that there was no one in there. The nurse, a ditzy blonde that would insist that you lie on the cot for a while to cure a broken leg, had left her computer logged in on her school account.

He went to search for Louis' schedule before realizing, he didn't even know the boy's last name. Pushing his luck, he typed in Louis and was met with 28 results. He scrolled through for a while and had narrowed it down to two Louises, who both had no picture attached to their file. Tomlinson and Aubrey. Given that Aubrey was a freshman and Tomlinson was a senior, Liam was betting on Tomlinson.

He checked the schedule and found Louis was in history. He called the number of the teacher.

"Hello?"

"Yes, could you send Louis Tomlinson to the nurse?"

"May I ask why?"

Liam hadn't thought of that, "Standard student procedures. He's new so we barely have any information on him."

The teacher made a noise in reluctant agreement, "Fine."

They both hung up and Liam unlocked the door, hoping that Tomlinson was the Louis he was looking for.

A knock sounded on the door about five minutes later, the door opened hesitantly.

"Um, excuse me? I was told to come here?"

"You sure were." Liam said, causing Louis to jump.

"Liam what the fuck are you doing?!"

Liam pointed an accusing finger at the older boy, "Trying to find out why you kissed me and ran away!"

Louis groaned and sat down on one of the cots. Liam sat down next to him as Louis rested his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees.

After a while Louis looked up, "Liam, you're 16. I'm 18. You haven't even kissed anyone before! I've kissed and had boyfriends and other…things… I'm graduating this year and I'm gonna go to university and you're going to be here and I just, I don't see this working out…"

"I, okay," Liam said, looking down at the floor.

"Okay?!" Louis shouted, suddenly enraged, "You go through all this trouble for me and I reject you and all you say is okay?!"

"What do you want me to say?!" Liam shouted back, "You said no! There's nothing else I can do! I'm just going to have to deal with it! Or wait until I get to university and maybe if you're not taken you'll give me another chance. I want you Louis, but if you don't want me, there's nothing I can really do!"

Then Louis' lips are on Liam's again and his hands are holding his face and they need to stop kissing like this. Louis tried to pull away, but Liam didn't let him. He grabbed the sides of Louis' face and coaxed Louis' mouth open with his tongue. He felt the vibration of the older boy moaning in his mouth and let out a groan back.

They parted and Liam stopped to catch his breath.

"Are you sure you've never kissed anyone before?" Louis asked breathlessly, laughing quietly.

"Yeah pretty sure…"

"…Do you want to change that?"

Liam looked over at Louis' hopeful grin and answers by pressing his lips to Louis', pushing him back on the cot.

Then they heard a shriek.

"Get out!"

They broke apart and saw the nurse standing there with her lunch trash and wide eyes.

"What is _wrong_ with you two?!" She shouted as they giggled and ran out of the office, hands linked.

"Wanna see something cute?" Liam asked, breathing heavy from running.

Louis, just as out of breath, nodded. The younger of the two tugged on their entwined hands and led them out of the building, onto the football field, and under the bleachers. Liam made sure they would be hidden.

"What are-" Louis said but quieted to a whisper as Liam shushed him, "What are we looking for?"

"Just wait," Liam whispered back.

Then came Niall. He came bearing a dozen red roses, which he hid from view, and a guitar. The blond then leaned against a pole holding up the bleachers and waited.

About 3 minutes later, Zayn walked in.

"Hey, Niall." He said, smiling a bit sadly, obviously Niall hadn't told him anything. "Why did you want me to meet you here."

"I wanted to tell you something," Niall said, grabbing the roses and holding them out to Zayn.

Zayn make a weird noise, "I thought you liked Liam."

"No! No, no, no!" Niall protested. Liam mocked offense and Louis squeezed his hand and nuzzled into his neck. "See, I meant to send yo-"

* * *

A knock on the door interrupted Liam. He shot a glare at said door as Louis moved to answer it.

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Said a boisterous Irish voice as he walked through the doorway.

"Uncle Zayn! Uncle Niall!" shouted Amy with joy, jumping off the couch to hug the two men.

Seth walked over calmly, pretending not to be excited, "Papa was just telling us this boring story about how he met Dad and how you two got together."

Zayn smiled fondly at Liam, "You just can't go anywhere without telling that story."

"It's a good story!" Everyone laughed at him. "It's adorable! Louis?"

Louis pressed a kiss to Liam's temple, "It's a great story, sweetie."

"Can I continue it?"

Zayn and Niall took a seat on the couch, Amy on top of Niall and Seth next to the three.

"Where were you?" Niall asks.

"Well…"

* * *

"See, I meant to send you a red rose and Liam a yellow one but they got mixed up I guess?"

Zayn's face broke out into a huge grin. He wrapped his arms around Niall, "I like you too."

Niall grinned back, "That's good. Now," he picked up his guitar, "A little birdy who is probably spying on us right now told me that you were having a bad day. So, I wrote a song for you…"

"Niall," Zayn gasped in disbelief.

Niall smiled and started playing, "Also Liam you and that dude should just come out, because I can totally see you and it's just sad how bad your hiding place is."

Liam let out a laugh and he and Louis moved to where Zayn and Niall were. They took a seat on the ground and watched as Niall serenaded Zayn. Then watched as they kissed. Then got up and left as they started making out.

* * *

"…and that, and many double dates, is how we got to this point now, kids."

"Finally!"

"I thought it would never end!"

"So much kissing!"

"That was so gross Liam," Niall said teasingly, then tickling Amy. Zayn giggled and joined in.

"I love you." Louis whispered, moving from the arm of Liam's chair to Liam's lap.

"I love you too." Liam replied, kissing Louis' nose chastely.

"Gross!"

"Dad ew!"

"So much affection!"

"My eyes are burning!"

Louis shook his head, "Our friends are just giant children."

Zayn gasped in mock offense, "You love us!"

"Unfortunately."

* * *

**bleh it starts getting really rushed half way through and i couldnt find out how to end it**

**i half love it half hate it**


End file.
